Front Page: Drawing of ‘Bertie in his Smoke Helmet’with little goblin-like figures and the words: ‘They rose suddenly from the earth, wearing smoke helmets over their faces, and looking not like soldiers but like devils.’

Back Page: A Christmas Joke. Yes or No.

A Familiar of the Spanish Inquisition(1).Sinister eye pieces. A Modern Hamlet’s Ghost (2). A Saturated Conglomeration of Chemical Affinity. A Hooded Phantom(3)issuing forth from itsGoblin tubal volcanic mouth. A Hissing warm breath.

The first use of Poison Gas was on 22nd April 1915, by the Germans at 2nd Battle of Ypres against Canadian & French troops. The British used chlorine gas first at Battle of Loos Hohenzollern Redoubt, 24th September – 15th October, 1915.

First attempts at protection were crude: cotton pads in the mouth, then came The Black Veil Respirator – chemical soaked mouth pads attached to a long cloth hanging over the face. In June 1915 came the Hypo Helmet – a mask made of chemical absorbing fabric to fit over the entire head. The Canister Gas Mask was issued in 1916, with a hose connected to a tin can containing absorbent material. Many soldiers were overcome by gas, released by either side, because the masks were notoriously difficult to fit and warnings often came too late or not at all, when winds changed direction. <www.firstworldwar.com>

(4) Phantominical: not in Chamber’s Dictionary but in use today in<https://m.flikr.com/photos >. Similar meaning as ‘phantasmagoria‘ /phantasmagorical: ‘fantastic series of illusive images or of real forms’/ optical illusions/ of ‘deceptive appearance/ nightmare/ dream state. cf. Chambers Dictionary. A literary device to heighten drama, used frequently by Charles Dickens.

(5) Ghost of Christmas yet to Come: A Ghost Story for Christmas. Charles Dickens. 1843.

The WW1 Letters and Drawings of Private Bertie Hibbett, 1/5th South Staffordshire Regiment, to his family in Walsall, will be posted again, one hundred years on, from August 1914 to November 1918, by his daughter Elizabeth Hibbett Webb. The first posting will be the Recruitment Postcard sent by Queen Mary's Grammar School Headmaster to the Hibbett family on holiday in Abergele, Wales.